System and Method for Locating Web Services

1. At least one computer-readable storage medium, having computer-executable instructions stored thereon, executable by one or more computer processors, for performing a method, the method comprising: sending by a client application a first message, that includes an identifier, to a referral service, wherein the referral service translates the identifier to identify a locater service to create a re-direct message; receiving at the client application the re-direct message, sent from the referral service, that includes a location of a locater service, the location of the locater service being based at least in part on the identifier included in the first message; sending by the client application a second message to the locater service to invoke the location of the locater service provided in the re-direct message; receiving at the client application a list of locations based at least in part on the identifier and at least one attribute associated with the client application responsible for sending the first message, each location corresponding to and describing a web service that is available; receiving at the client application an error message if one of the locations for one of the web services has been changed; and resending by the client application the first message to receive an updated list of locations if the error message is received.

2. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the at least one attribute is included within the first message.

3. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the at least one attribute includes at least one of a client type, a client version, and a locale.

4. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the identifier is hard-coded within code for sending the first message.

5. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the identifier is obtained via a registry entry associated with a client application responsible for sending the first message.

6. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises persisting the list of locations.

7. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the list of locations comprises an XML document that identifies each location.

8. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 7 , wherein each location is identified by a name and a URL pair.

9. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 7 , wherein the XML document is transmitted via SOAP and results in a plurality of objects available to a client application that sent the first message, each object being associated with one of the locations.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 , further comprising persisting the plurality of objects.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises receiving an expiration date, the expiration date indicating a period of time for which the list of locations is valid.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises receiving an expiration date for each location, each expiration date indicating a period of time for which the associated location is valid.

13. At least one computer-readable storage medium, having computer-executable instructions stored thereon, executable by one or more computer processors, for performing a method, the method comprising: receiving at a referral service a first message from a client application, the first message including an identifier; translating the identifier at the referral service to identify a locater service to create a re-direct response; sending by the referral service the re-direct response to the client application that re-directs the client application to the locater service that provides a list of locations to the client application based at least in part on the identifier and at least one attribute associated with the client application responsible for sending the first message, each location being associated with and describing a web service that is available; and receiving at the referral service a second message from the client application to request an updated list of locations if the client application receives an error message indicating that one of the locations for one of the web services has been changed.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the message comprises an HTTP GET.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the message comprises an HTTPS GET.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the message comprises a FWLINK associated with the identifier.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the re-direct response includes the identifier.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the re-direct response includes at least one attribute comprising a client type, a client version, and a locale.

19. A system, comprising: a processor; and a memory containing a plurality of instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to perform a method, the method comprising: sending by a client application a first message, that includes an identifier, to a referral service, wherein the referral service translates the identifier to identify a locater service to create a re-direct message; receiving at the client application the re-direct message, sent from the referral service, that includes a location of a locater service, the location of the locater service being based at least in part on the identifier included in the first message; sending by the client application a second message to the locater service to invoke the location of the locater service provided in the re-direct message; receiving at the client application a list of locations based at least in part on the identifier and at least one attribute associated with the client application responsible for sending the first message, each location being associated with and describing a web service that is available; receiving at the client application an error message if one of the locations for one of the web services has been changed; and resending by the client application the first message to receive an updated list of locations if the error message is received.

20. The system of claim 19 , wherein the at least one attribute includes at least one of a client type, a client version, and a locale.

21. The system of claim 19 , further comprising persisting the list of locations.

22. The system of claim 19 , wherein the list of locations comprises an XML document having a name and a location identifier for each web service.

23. The system of claim 22 , wherein the location identifier comprises a URL.

24. The system of claim 22 , wherein the XML document is transmitted via SOAP resulting in a plurality of objects available to the client application, each object being associated with one location out of the list of locations.

25. The system of claim 24 , further comprising persisting the plurality of objects.

26. The system of claim 19 , further comprising receiving an expiration date, the expiration date indicating a period of time for which the list of locations is valid.

27. The system of claim 19 , further comprising receiving an expiration date associated with each location, each expiration date indicating a period of time for which the associated location is valid.